bwaugh
This year the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals issued a three-booklet series titled, “Precept upon Precept, Line upon Line,” which provides Bible memorization passages using the English Standard Version as selected from themes found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. For those who want to have the program in digital form, the booklets are also available in PDF, but using the hardcopies affords a tangible reminder that can be shelved in a prominent place to encourage practice. The series begins in book one with the theme of God using the verse for memorization 1 John 4:8b, “God is love”; the last passage at the end of book three is Hebrews 12:1-3, which addresses the theme of the Christian life. Some of the other passages for remembering are Psalm 103:6-14, Isaiah 53:1-6, Psalm 23, Matthew 5:3-9 (Beatitudes), Romans 1:16-17, and 2 Corinthians 5:17. The books of the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments are included along with memorization tips and an introduction for directing children in their studies. The pamphlets are colorful with the first book appealing to pre-school children with illustrations, but as students advance to the second and third books just the texts of the lengthier passages are given. The series gives parents and teachers direction for hiding the Word in the hearts of their students, and if the full program is completed there will be a number of texts available for the Holy Spirit to bring to mind for comfort, encouragement, doctrinal precision, and Bible knowledge. However, a challenging aspect of any memorization program is sticking with it, but this can be accomplished with weekly accountability in classroom sessions, home school support groups, or Sunday afternoon gatherings at home.
The article on Presbyerians of the Past, “Memorizing the Bible,” considers the example of William and Mary Warfield who used Bible and catechism studies on Sunday afternoons with their sons Benjamin and Ethelbert. Their example encourages memorization today. Both these sons went on to be educators with Benjamin serving as a professor at Princeton Seminary and Ethelbert was a college administrator and member of the Princeton Seminary board. The article goes on to make some observations about memorization and its benefits, so reading it in conjunction with the Alliance’s program provides background and food for thought about the importance of Bible memorization.
If you have been considering purchasing a Bible memorization curriculum, the “Precept upon Precept, Line upon Line” program of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals would be a good choice.
Barry Waugh
Notes—In the header the text of Psalm 119, Beth, is from a 1606 edition of the Geneva Bible as on Internet Archive. Note that annotation a in the header reads, “Because youth is most given to licentiousnesse, he [the psalmist] chiefly warneth them to frame their lives betime to Gods word.”
